early such indications of genius, that a monk, Denis Fauchier, undertook the care of her education. In a little time she made so great a progress, that she equalled the most learned men of the age. Her Latin and French poems, letters, and treatises, for acuteness and solidity, have been classed with the ancient philosophers. She maintained a correspondence with many learned men in France and Italy. Francis I. of France was so charmed with the letters of this abbess, that he carried them about him, and showed them as models worthy of imitation. He went with his sister, Margaret of Navarre, to Tarascon on purpose to see this celebrated lady. She died in 1547. BEHN, APHRA, A CELEBRATED English poetess, was descended from a good family in the city of Canterbury. She was born in the reign of Charles I., but in what year is uncertain. Her father's name was Johnson. He was related to lord Willoughby, and by his interest was appointed lieutenant-general of Surinam and thirty-six islands, and embarked for the West Indies when Aphra was very young. Mr. | Johnson died on the passage, but his family arrived at Surinam, where Aphra became acquainted with the American prince Oroonoko, whose story she has given in her celebrated novel of that name. She relates that "she had often seen and conversed with that great man, and been a witness to many of his mighty actions; and that at one time, he and Imoinda his wife, were scarce an hour in a day from her lodgings." The intimacy between Oroonoko and the poetess occasioned some reflections on her conduct, from which she was subsequently cleared. The afflictions she met with at Surinam, in the death of her parents and relations, obliged her to return to England, where, soon after her arrival, she married Mr. Behn, an eminent merchant in London, of Dutch extraction. King Charles II., whom she highly pleased by the entertaining and accurate account she gave him of the colony of Surinam, thought her a proper person to be entrusted with the management of some affairs during the Dutch war, which was the cause of her going to Antwerp. Here she discovered the design formed by the Dutch, of sailing up the Thames, in order to burn the English ships; she made this discovery through her lover, Vander Albert, a Dutchman. This man, who had been in love with her in England, no sooner heard of her arrival at Antwerp, than he paid her a visit; and after a repetition of all his former professions, pressed her extremely to allow him by some signal means to give undeniable proofs of his passion. She accepted this proposal, and employed him in such a manner as made her very serviceable to king Charles I. The latter end of the year 1666, Albert sent her word by a special messenger that he would be with her at an appointed time, when he revealed to her that Cornelius de Witt and De Ruyter had proposed the abovementioned expedition. Mrs. Behn could not doubt the truth of this communication, and sent information of it immediately by express to England. But her intelligence (though well grounded, as the event showed) being disregarded and ridiculed, she renounced all state affairs, and amused herself during her stay at Antwerp, with the pleasures of the city. After some time she embarked at Dunkirk for England, and in the passage was near being lost; the ship was driven on the coast for four days, but by the assistance of boats the crew were all saved. Mrs. Behn published three volumes of poems; the first in 1684, the second in 1685, the third in 1688. They consist of songs and other little pieces, by the earl of Rochester, sir George Etherage, Mr. Henry Crisp, and others, with some pieces of her own. To the second volume is annexed a translation of the duke de Rochefoucault's moral reflections, under the title of "Seneca Unmasked." She wrote also seventeen plays, some histories and novels. She translated Fontenelle's History of Oracles, and Plurality of Worlds, to which last she annexed an essay on translation and translated prose. The Paraphrase of Ænone's Epistle to Paris, in the English translation of Ovid's Epistles, is Mrs. Behn's; and Mr. Dryden, in the preface to that work, pays her the following compliment: "I was desired to say, that the author, who is of the fair sex, understood not Latin; but if she do not, I am afraid she has given us who do, occasion to be ashamed." She was also the authoress of the celebrated Letters between "A Nobleman and his Sister," printed in 1684; and of eight love-letters to a gentleman whom she passionately loved, and with whom she corresponded under the name of Lycidas. She died, after a long indisposition, April 16th, 1689, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. BEKKER, ELIZABETH, AN ornament of Dutch literature, was born at Flushing, in 1738, and died at the Hague, in 1804. Few female authors have united to so great talents such dignity and purity of morals. Several of her numerous works are considered classics in Dutch literature; especially her romances of William Leevend;" "Letters of A. Blankhart to C. Wildschut;" and the "History of Sara Bürgerhart." She wrote her most important works in conjunction with her friend Agatha Deken, and the share of each of them in the composition is unknown. Agatha Deken survived her friend only nine days. BELLAMY, GEORGIANA, AN actress of some celebrity, was born in 1733. Her mother was a Miss Searle, the mistress of lord Trelawny, who afterwards married captain Bellamy. He separated from her on discovering her infidelity. Miss Bellamy was brought out by Mr. Garrick at the Covent-Garden theatre at the age of fourteen, and met with much success for some years. She died at Edinburgh, in deep distress, in 1788. Her life was a series of errors and misfortunes. She wrote her own memoirs in six volumes. BELLINI, GUISEPA, COUNTESS, Was born at Novara in 1776, of one of the most noble families of Italy. She was endowed with a good understanding and great benevolence of character, which a strong sentiment of piety guided and maintained. She was married in the bloom of youth to the count Marco Bellini, whose character and disposition entirely assimilated with hers. Crowned with all worldly advantages, they were doomed to the affliction of losing their only son. This blow was sensibly felt by the bereaved parents, who thenceforth, unable to enjoy the pleasures of society and idle diversions, resolved to seek alleviation by devoting themselves to works of beneficent utility. Already extremely opulent, a large accession of fortune enabled them to mature an idea they had planned for the public utility; when, in 1831, death removed from the poor their friend and benefactor, the count Bellini. The widowed countess, remembering her husband's maxim that the "best way of assisting the poor population was by giving them the abilities to maintain themselves," took counsel with the most intelligent and experienced of her fellowcitizens, and, with the assistance of able and practical heads, planned and founded a gratuitous school for arts and trades, for the benefit of the children of both sexes of the Novarese poor. This foundation she endowed with the sum of 100,000 francs. This good work was regularly established by royal permission and concurrence of the municipal authorities, February 9th, 1833. The countess Bellini died in 1837. BENDISH, BRIDGET, WIFE of Thomas Bendish, Esq., was the daughter of General Ireton, and grand-daughter of Oliver Cromwell; whom she resembled in piety, dissimulation, personal arrogance, and love of display. After managing her salt-works at Southtown, in Norfolk, with all the labour and exertion of the most menial servant, she would sometimes spend an evening at the public assembly at Yarmouth, where her princely behaviour and dignified manners ensured her the respect of her neighbours. This remarkable woman, who, in public life, would have become famous by her great mental powers and self-command, died in retirement in 1727. BENGER, ELIZABETH OGILVY, WAS born at Welles in England, in 1778, and had to struggle with many difficulties in early life. So few books could she procure, that she used to read the open pages of the new publications in the window of the only bookseller's shop in the little town in Wiltshire in which she lived, and return, day after day, in the hope of finding another page turned over. She, nevertheless, acquired a respectable portion of learning. On her removal to London, she obtained kind literary friends and patronage, and was generally esteemed for her virtues, manners, and talents. She died January the 9th, 1827. Besides a drama, two novels, and poems, she wrote "Memoirs of Mrs. Hamilton;""Lobin and Klopstock;" and "Lives of Anne Boleyn; Mary, Queen of Scots; the Queen of Bohemia; and Henry IV. of France." BENWELL, MARY, WAS an English portrait-painter. Her principal works were in crayons, oil, and miniature, and were exhibited to the public in the Artists' and Royal Academy Exhibitions from 1622 till 1783. BERNARD, CATHARINE, Or the academy of the Ricovrate of Padua, was born at Rouen, and died at Paris in 1712. Her works were several times crowned by the French academy, and by that of the Jeux-Floraux. Two of her tragedies were represented at the French theatre, "Brutus," in 1691, and "Laodamia." It is thought she composed these pieces conjointly with Fontenelle, her friend and countryman. She wrote several other works in verse, showing ease and sometimes delicacy. She acquired some celebrity by her placet to Louis XIV., to petition for the two hundred crowns given to her annually by that prince; it is to be seen in the "Recueil de vers Choisis du père Bonhors." She discontinued writing for the theatre at the advice of Madame la Chanceliére de Pont-Chartrain, who gave her a pension; even suppressing several little pieces, which might have given wrong impressions of her manners and religion. Two romances are likewise ascribed to her; "The Count d'Amboise," and "Ines of Cordova." Some of the journalists attributed to her, others to Fontenelle, the account of the "Island of Borneo." BETHMANN, FREDERICA, ONE of the first ornaments of the Berlin National Theatre, was born in 1760, at Gotha, where her father, whose name was Flittner, had an income by a respectable office. After his death, her mother married the well-known director Grossmann. He visited, with his family, the cities on the Rhine, Cologne, Bonn, Mentz, &c., where Frederica was married to Mr. Unselmann, who sided after her marriage. She was not only celebrated for her poetry, but possessed a vigorous and polished prose style. She cultivated music and painting, and turned her attention to what was at that time a respectable and sensible object of study, astrology. Besides these accomplishments, Lucia was gifted with all the virtues of her sex. She was amiable and gentle, and her excellent disposition was manifested in an attempt she most earnestly made to effect a reconciliation between two rival men of letters, Caro and Castelvetro. She conducted the matter with the utmost delicacy and good sense- - appealed to the better feelings of each-and tried to show how unworthy of their superior abilities, and solid reputation, was this unmeaning bickering. enjoyed great popularity for his rich comic talent, | Bertana, a gentleman of Modena, where she reand she then made her first appearance on the stage. Her agreeable voice induced her to appear first at the opera. She soon acquired by her singing and acting, in naïf as well as in sentimental parts, the undivided approbation of the public; and was called, with her husband, to Berlin, where she became one of the first actresses that Germany has produced, both in tragedy and comedy. In 1803 she was divorced from her husband to marry the renowned Mr. Bethmann. She died in 1814. A truly creative fancy, deep and tender feeling, and an acute understanding, were united in her with a graceful, slender figure, an expressive countenance, and a voice, which, from its flexibility and melodiousness, was fit to touch the deepest chords of the heart, and to mark with rare perfection the nicest shades of thought and feeling. BERTANA, LUCIA. In the sixteenth century the literary annals of Italy shone with illustrious names, and among these may be found many women assiduously cultivating poetry and science, and attaining no mean proficiency in these elevated pursuits. Naples boasted Vittoria Colonna, and a few years afterwards, Laura Terracini. Padua possessed Gaspara Stampa; Brescia, Veronica Gambara; and Modena, Tarquenia Molza. At Bologna, among many poetesses at that time, we find Ippolita Paleotti writing elegant verses in Greek and in Latin; the nun Febronia Pannolini, remarkable for her choice prose, and flowing hymns, as well in Latin as in Italian; and Valeria Miani, who achieved that difficulty some male sceptics arrogantly refuse to feminine capacity - -a successful tragedy. But among all the Bolognese women, the crown must be yielded to Lucia Bertana. Not only contemporary authorities award her this praise, but Maffei, in his "History of Italian literature," gives her the third place among the most admirable poetesses of the sixteenth century, preferring only Vittoria Colonna and Veronica Gambara. She was born at Bologna, of the family Dall'Oro, in 1521; and became the wife of Gerone She died in Rome in 1567. Her remains were interred in the church of St. Sabina, where her husband elevated a superb monument to her memory. The estimation of various learned societies endeavoured to immortalize her by other means medals were struck to her fame, which may yet be found in Italian Museums. The following from her pen has been much admired: SONNET. Or musa mia lieta e sicura andrai Per folti boschi e per ameni colli, Quivi con le sorelle canterai I miei pensieri per letizia folli, Ed al gran Castelvetro in atto umile, Dirai, se il ceil mi dà tanto valore Che posta avrai mai sempre e lingua e stile BLAKE, KATHARINE, WIFE of William Blake, the artist, was born in humble life, and first noticed by the young painter for the whiteness of her hand and the sylph-like beauty of her form. Her maiden name was Boutcher, not a pretty name to set in rhyme, but her lover inscribed his lyrics to the "dark-eyed Kate." He also drew her picture; and finding she had good domestic qualities, he married her. They lived long and happily together. A writer, who knew them intimately, thus describes her: "She seemed to have been created on purpose for Blake: she believed him to be the finest genius on earth; she believed in his verse; she believed in his designs; and to the wildest flights of his imagination she bowed the knee, and was a worshipper. She set his house in good order, prepared his frugal meal, learned to think as he thought, and, indulging him in his harmless absurdities, became as it were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. She learned-what a young and handsome woman is seldom apt to learn-to despise gaudy dresses, costly meals, pleasant company, and agreeable invitations - she found out the way of being happy at home, living on the simplest of food, and contented in the homeliest of clothing. It was no ordinary mind which could do all this; and she whom Blake emphatically called his beloved,' was no ordinary woman. She wrought off in the press the impressions of his plates—she coloured them with a light and neat hand-made drawings much in the spirit of his compositions, and almost rivalled him in all things, save in the power which he possessed of seeing visions of any individual living or dead, whenever he chose to see them." William Blake died in 1828, without any visible pain, his faithful wife watching over him to the last. She died a few years afterwards. BLACKWELL, ELIZABETH, AN English woman of considerable talent, who, to provide subsistence for her husband, who was in prison for debt, published, in two folio volumes, in 1737 and 1739, an Herbal, containing five hundred plates, drawn, engraved, and coloured by herself. The first volume was published in 1737, and the second appeared in 1739. The complete work bore the following title: "A curious Herbal, containing five hundred of the most useful plants which are now used in the practice of physic, engraved on folio copper-plates, after drawings taken from the life. To which is added a short description of the plants, and their common uses in Physic." While Mrs. Blackwell was completing this laborious undertaking, she resided at Chelsea, near the Garden of Medicinal Plants; where she was frequently visited, and much patronized, by people of distinguished rank and learning. The College of Physicians gave the book a public testimonial of their approbation, and made the author a present. Dr. Pulteney, speaking of this work, says, "For the most complete set of drawings of medicinal plants, we are indebted to the genius and industry of a lady, exerted on an occasion that redounded highly to her praise." Her husband, Alexander, was born at Aberdeen, brought up as a physician, and went to Sweden about 1740, where he was beheaded, on a charge of being concerned in count Tessin's plot. BLAMIRE, SUSANNA, Was born of a respectable family in Cumberland, England, at Cardem Hall, near Carlisle, where she resided till her twentieth year, when her sister marrying a gentleman from Scotland, she accompanied them to that country, where she remained some years. She was distinguished for the excellence of her Scottish poetry. She died unmarried WHEN silent time, wi' lightly foot, Had trod on thirty years, I sought again my native land As I drew near my ancient pile, Those days that followed me afar, Those happy days o' mine, Whilk made me think the present joys A' naething to langsyne! The ivied tower now met my eye, I ran to ilka dear friend's room, I knew where ilk ane used to sit, I closed the door, and sobbed aloud, To think on auld langsyne! Some pensy chiels, a new sprung race, And wished my groves away. To wean me frae these waefu' thoughts, In vain I sought in music's sound Ye sons to comrades o' my youth, Wha 'midst your gayest scenes still mourns When time has passed and seasons fled, THE WAEFU' HEART. GIN living worth could win my heart, My waefu' heart lies low wi' his, And O! what a heart was that to love! Yet O! gin heaven in mercy soon Would grant the boon I crave, And take the life, now naething worth, Since Jamie's in the grave. And, see, his gentle spirit comes To speed me on my way, I come, I come, my Jamie dear; I follow wheresoe'er ye lead! -She said; and soon a deadly pale AULD ROBIN FORBES. (In the Cumberland dialect.) And auld Robin Forbes hes gien tem a dance, The lasses aw wondered what Willy cud see But Willy he laughed, and he meade me his weyfe, I mind when I carried my wark to yon steyle, There was none o' the leave that was leyke my awn sel; When the clock had struck eight I expected him heame, That age, time, or death, can divide thee and me! BLANCA, N. LE, A YOUNG Woman who was found wild at Ligny, near Chalons, in France, in 1731, when about ten years of age. She was placed in a convent, and died a nun, in 1760. BLANCHARD, MADAME, WAS the wife of François Blanchard, one of the first aeronauts, a Frenchman by birth, who died in 1809. After his death Madame Blanchard continued to make aerial voyages. In 1811, she ascended in Rome, and after going sixty miles, BLAND, ELIZABETH. THIS lady was remarkable for her knowledge of the Hebrew language, and for her peculiar skill in writing it. She was born about the period of the restoration of Charles II., and was daughter and heir of Mr. Robert Fisher, of Long-Acre. She married Mr. Nathaniel Bland, April 26th, 1681, who was then a linen-draper in London, and afterwards lord of the manor of Beeston, in Yorkshire. She had six children, who all died in infancy, excepting one son, named Joseph, and a daughter, Martha, who was married to Mr. George Moore, of Beeston. Mrs. Bland was taught Hebrew by Lord Van Helmont, which she understood so thoroughly as to be competent to the instruction in it of her son and daughter. Among the curiosities of the Royal Society is preserved a phylactery in Hebrew, written by her, of which Dr. Grew has given a description in his account of rarities preserved at Gresham college. "It is a single scroll of parchment, fifteen inches long, three quarters of an inch in breadth, with four sentences of the law most curiously written upon it in Hebrew; viz. Exod. xiii. from verse 7 to 11, and from 13 to 17; Deut. vi. from verse 3 to 10, and xi. from 13 to 19. Serarius, from the rabbies, saith, that they were written severally upon so many scrolls, and that the Jews do to this day wear them over their foreheads in their manSo that they are of several sorts or modes, whereof this is one." Mrs. Bland having written the phylactery described by Dr. Grew, at the request of Mr. Thoresby, presented it to the Royal Society. ner. By the two pedigrees of the family, printed in Mr. Thoresby's Ducatus Leodiensis, pages 209 and 587, it seems she was living in 1712. BLEECKER, ANNE ELIZA, ONE of the early poetesses of America, was born in New York, in 1752. Her father was Brandt Schuyler, of that city. In 1769, she married John J. Bleecker, and afterwards lived chiefly at Tom hanick, a little village not far from Albany. 1 was in this seclusion that most of her poems were written. The death of one of her children, and the capture of her husband, who was taken prisoner by a party of tories, in 1781, caused a depression of spirits and melancholy from which she never recovered. She died in 1783. Several years after her death, her poems were collected by her daughter, Mrs. Faugeres, and published in one volume. There are no wonderful traces of genius in these poems; but they show a refined taste, and talents which might have been cultivated to higher efforts, if the circumstances surrounding the author had been propitious. There is a pure current of conjugal and maternal feeling to be |